Barnmates Continued
by abed17
Summary: A collection of short stories about the daily interactions of Lapis and Peridot
1. Accessories

Characters of course are owned by Rebecca Sugar.

* * *

It was a pleasant autumn day out in the country where the warmth of summer still lingered but the breeze brought a refreshing chill. There were hardly any clouds above allowing Lapis to admire the pale cerulean sky. Days like these reminded her of how much she loved this planet when she first arrived. But after a few millennia inside a godforsaken mirror, that passion has now degraded to a reluctant acceptance that Earth is her permanent residence.

Not everything was terrible though. At least she now has the freedom to do whatever she wants whether that was making modern art or farming. Just as she was turning her focus back to the book Steven got for her on perennial flowers, Lapis saw her roommate lug out what appeared to be two legs from the barn.

"What are those things Peridot?" the ocean gem said with a slight tone of annoyance. This was the fifth convoluted design Peridot had engineered this month; each of course have had varying degrees of success fulfilling their intended purposes.

"These Lazuli will hopefully be the first part of my new limb enhancer suit. After going on numerous missions with Steven and the others, I realized I needed something to improve my mobility until I fine-tune my powers." As she said this, Peridot attached one of the prosthetics over her left leg. "By emitting rapid bursts of air, these new gravity connectors will help me boost jump across challenging terrain."

"Are you sure you didn't just make them because you miss being tall?" Lapis teased.

Though it was subtle, Lapis could see the green gem's face blushing. "Of course not!" she exclaimed. "I built this so I could be of greater assistance to the Crystal Gems during important missions."

Once she finally stood up, Lapis noticed how much the new legs had made Peridot resemble the cold, calculating gem she first met back on Homeworld. Though Lapis didn't want to ruin Peridot's new unveiling, she felt a little queasy seeing her like this. Wanting to divert her mind away from these thoughts, Lapis asked "So where did you find the technology to make your new legs?"

"I mostly scavenged through the remnants of the Kindergarten. Although I was severely limited by the ancient Gem tech, I managed to convert some of the injector batteries into a power source for the legs."

"Are you sure that was the best decision Peridot? I mean that junk has been aging for thousands of years."

"Don't worry Lazuli," said the green gem confidently, "I took great care in choosing the ones that were the least damaged."

"That still doesn't sound…"

"Eh it probably won't make a difference anyway. I just need to get a few feet off the ground and the triggers I have in my hands should control the output of batteries. Now, stand back and watch as I touch the roof of the barn!" However, when Peridot pressed the triggers the feet only created small clouds of dust.

"Wow," said Lapis, "that was a pretty high jump Peridot."

"Oh spare me the sarcasm!" Peridot hissed through closed teeth.

Though Lapis went back to her reading, she kept an eye on Peridot as she meddled with the triggers again. After getting the same results again and again, Peridot finally blew a fuse and began jumping up and down shouting "Why! Aren't! You! Working?!"

Suddenly, the legs created an ear-piercing bang knocking Lapis to the ground. Before she could comprehend what had happened, she saw that Peridot had disappeared. Frantically, Lapis searched her immediate surroundings looking for any clue that would help her determine where Peridot flew off. Then a piece of metal fell from the sky and landed next to Lapis.

She looked up in disbelief but soon realized that Peridot was still falling. She quickly prepared a pool of water to help cushion Peridot's fall and looked back up to find her target. Lapis caught a speck out of the corner of her eye. ' _That has to be Peridot_.' She reformed the pool into a tall spiraling column and waited for the right moment.

' _No pressure. I mean Peridot is a pretty durable gem.'_ Even if that were true, Lapis knew a fall like this was pushing it. The speck gradually grew in size and Lapis soon heard Peridot as she plummeted through the air. With precise control, Lapis shot the column of water and caught Peridot; as she was moving through the water, Lapis continued twisting the column to slow down the gem's momentum.

Unfortunately, the water wasn't enough to stop Peridot completely and she hit the ground with enough force to create a shallow outline of her body. Lapis rushed over to Peridot praying that what she did stopped her from cracking her gem.

"Are you okay Peridot!?"

Peridot didn't give her a response at first but she slowly raised her left hand and balled it into a thumbs up. Lapis sighed in relief and helped Peridot into the barn and placed her on the couch.

"Maybe next time you should pay more attention to safety before immediately testing things." Lapis went back outside expecting to see the robotic legs but she couldn't find either one. "By the way, what happened to your new limb enhancers?"

"Who knows," replied Peridot, "they probably ended up in the adjacent counties. I guess it's back to the drawing board tomorrow."

Lapis came back to the room and sat next to Peridot on the couch. As she turned on the TV, Lapis leaned over Peridot and said, "Well if it means anything I think the limb enhancers are pointless because you're perfect just the way you are right now."


	2. Colors

(Peridot's day when Lapis went out during Alone at Sea)

Peridot was laying down on her makeshift bed made out of hay, grass clippings, and a tarp. Lapis had traveled to Beach City earlier that morning to attend a fun activity with Steven and his dad. Even though that meant she had the whole barn to herself, Peridot still laid stationary staring at the roof.

 _'Why isn't there anything interesting here? Sure I don't mind being in a safe retreat away from Yellow Diamond, but that doesn't mean I want to be stuck in such a monotonous environment.'_

She stood up and climbed down the ladder and then made her way towards the section of the barn that Lapis had designated to be the living room. This however was just a mindless action. Peridot had read every book on the shelves and watched every VHS tape Steven had brought to the point of knowing the dialogue backwards.

 _'If there was something mildly intriguing in this barn, it definitely won't be here.'_

But as she was about to go back upstairs, she saw a sketchbook on the table. It was Steven's side present for Lapis when she first moved into the barn. He hoped that by expressing her thoughts through visual art she would recover better from her experience as Malachite. Since then, Lapis had kept the sketchbook close by her side.

 _'While that is intriguing, I really shouldn't look at that. But how private could it be if Lazuli just left it sitting here in plain sight. She probably didn't mean to do that besides this breach of personal space will absolutely set back your relationship with her. Then again she isn't here to witness this.'_

This moral argument continued on in her head like this until Peridot finally decided to open the portfolio. As she gently lifted the cover, her mind was racing trying to predict what Lapis could have drawn on the matted paper. But when she opened to the first page, Peridot soon became disappointed when she saw that the whole drawing was done in different shades of blue.

The first sketches were mostly landscapes and crude yet animated sketches of the nearby lifeforms. Each had their own beauty but every one of them was blue. Peridot briskly flipped through the pages hoping to see a different shade; even a little dot of something else would have been enough.

 _'I mean everyone is a fan of colors between the 450 and 495 nanometer wavelengths but this is approaching overkill.'_

Finally, she found a page where Lapis had used grey along with blue. When she looked more closely though she saw that the grey was used for a pair of eyes. Peridot tried to look for the outline of the body that possessed the eyes but she couldn't find it. As she went further on though, Peridot saw the same grey eyes on each page.

 _'That's weird. Maybe that's there to express an emotion or something.'_

Then Peridot noticed that each successive drawing used darker shades than the previous one. Eventually, the blue gave way to black and the eyes appeared to be glaring more intensely. When she reached the last page, Peridot saw that only a small corner was left blue and the black formed a large, intimidating outline with eyes full of anger.

 _'That must be Jasper.'_

For a moment, Peridot didn't know what to feel. She felt immense regret for delving this far into her friend's tortured past but she also felt a fervor to help Lapis in any way she could. However, Peridot knew all these efforts would have to be subtle or else Lapis would begin to suspect something.

All of a sudden, a solution came to her and she grabbed all the jars they had as well as a small bag and headed out to the warp pad.

* * *

When Peridot returned to barn it was well past evening. After rushing inside, she found Lapis sitting on the couch reading a book.

"Hey Peridot. Where have you been?"

"Oh just some abandoned gem colony site but that's not important right now. I got you this." Peridot showed Lapis the small bag.

Lapis accepted the bag and found that it was full of the richest colors she had ever seen.

"Peridot, where on earth did you find these pigments?"

"When I was hiding from the Crystal Gems, I stumbled onto one of the first gem injector sites. Apparently when they failed, the soil took in elements from Homeworld and assimilated them to make all these colors. I figured since you liked drawing you would find some utility with them."

Peridot waited for Lapis's response but instead of words she saw tears in her eyes.

"I messed up didn't I. Sorry I just thought that it would have been the right gift and…"

Before she could say anything else, Lapis embraced her in a tight but warm hug.

"Thank you Peridot, this is the most perfect gift I could have gotten after the day I've had."

The following day, Peridot climbed down and found that the floor of the barn had been covered by a vibrant mural. It was a collection of colors strewn together in complementary chaos.

"Do you like it?" asked Lapis.

"It's different. What's the inspiration?"

"I guess it's just how I felt today."


	3. Quarrels

Steven had hoped his weekend away from Beach City would be a chance to hang out with Lapis and Peridot who he rarely had time to see. But instead of that, he had caught the two in a bad mood. For the first couple of hours, he tried brighten their day with their favorite activities but that was as effective as breaking a brick wall with his bare fists. Neither of them really spoke to each other the entire day.

By the time evening came, Steven had to know the reason why they were acting like this. He approached the two of them on the couch and he sat between them. To his right, Lapis was experimenting with water colors while to his left Peridot was organizing a jar of bolts and screws. Of course, he couldn't just blurt out his question so Steven looked around for something to start the conversation. "Hey that tapestry on the far wall there is new, when did you guys put up?"

"Last week." Lapis said in an apathetic voice.

"But I thought Uncle Andy took away your tools for the month after you guys tried modifying the tractor. How did you guys nail it to the wall?"

Peridot chimed in but her voice was equally apathetic. "I used my powers to help drive the nails into the wall."

"That's so cool Peridot!" exclaimed Steven. "Looks like your fine control over metal is getting better."

"You could say that, but then again Peridot did destroy my physical form with one of the nails." Lapis remarked icily.

"Oh, I'm sure Peridot didn't mean poof you. Right Peridot?" Steven tried to think of something he could say to avoid a tense situation. However, before he could say anything else Peridot began confronting Lapis.

"Please don't tell me all your actions this past week were motivated by that small mishap."

"A small mishap? Your misfired nail pierced me in the back a few centimeters away from my gem! You didn't even make an effort to apologize when I reformed."

"That was because you suddenly decided to move to the right just before the nail left my hand. Now I'll confess that I let my focus slip a little but I didn't do that on purpose. Your retributions however were all done to spite me."

"What retributions?" replied Lapis in a teasing manner.

At this point, Steven could see that Peridot's annoyance was growing. "Don't play innocent Lazuli. You didn't move the couch five days ago for interior decorating you moved it so you could see me fall flat on my face when I jumped off from the second floor."

"How was I supposed to know you use that couch to get down from your half of the barn?" said Lapis but Steven could tell from her smirk that she was feigning ignorance.

Peridot managed to keep her composure but still grinded her teeth together. "Alright then, what about the neodymium magnets you brought that crashed every electronic device in this room?"

Unlike the first accusation, this question seemed to catch Lapis off her guard. "Okay so I admit that the couch and magnet thing were done to spite you but how many times do I have to tell you that I made an honest mistake in getting the super strong magnets. I just wanted them to give you enough trouble for it to be interesting."

"Yes that was indeed an interesting experience especially the part when I had to reset and partially rebuild everything that they affected. But that doesn't really compare to yesterday morning when I woke up and found giant, terrifying stick figures, which you classified as 'experiments with a new medium', hanging literally everywhere."

This time Lapis was the one annoyed. "How can you still blame me for that?! You didn't tell me that movie you decided to watch somehow instilled the fear that a witch was going to snatch you away. Honestly how could a rational person such as yourself be so terrified by a film that was essentially motion sickness incarnate."

"How else would I react to a demon witch adamant on luring travelers to their gruesome deaths?!"

"Come on she is a piece of fiction designed for cheap thrills!" Lapis paced around the room and regained her cool demeanor. "Peridot, why do we keep arguing over these inconsequential things?"

The fervor in their dialogue had now dissipated. Peridot contemplated her question and slowly began forming her words. "It's not that I want to do it." She sighed. "I'm just trying to make this 'friends' dynamic work. I mean we've been here nearly 200 Earth cycles and you're still cloistered in your own personal space." Peridot's sincerity though was not well received.

"Well Peridot, unfortunately friend isn't a word I would use to describe you. You're one of the gems who forced me against my will to return to this planet. Now I'm stuck here indefinitely again only this time I have a borderline egotistic brat who's constantly looming over me and trying to force her way into my life." Lapis's words hollowed out the room leaving nothing but tense silence. Steven expected Peridot to retort back; instead, she just returned a sullen expression. Lapis maintained her stance though her eyes degenerated into remorse.

"Enough guys!" Steven had gotten the insight he first desired, but now he had to fix the problem he forced Lapis and Peridot to unearth. "Sure you've had differences in the past but that doesn't mean you have to keep carrying them around. The Crystal Gems and I didn't put you two in our secondary base just for you to ignore each other forever." Steven then walked over to a nearby bookshelf and pulled out two notebooks.

"What are those for?" inquired Lapis.

"Each of you are going to write down all the things you hate about the other in these notebooks and then share it with each other."

"That seems counterintuitive. What could Lapis and I possibly accomplish if we just focus on the negative qualities?"

"Well I saw it in a movie once. After both of you clear all the negative stuff, then maybe there will be enough room to build something better."

"You say it like our relationship is just a small garden that needs weeding." Before Steven could reply to Lapis he saw the warp pad outside light up. Immediately after that, Pearl and Amethyst rushed into the room.

"Steven! We just detected a rise in seismic activity around an island that used to be an old gem settlement. Garnet went ahead to do a little reconnaissance and reported that two corrupted gems were tunneling inside a dormant volcano. We have to warp to Garnet's location immediately before they destabilize the entire structure and harm the people on the neighboring islands."

"W-Why do you guys need me? With you and Amethyst it would already be three against two."

"Yeah but Garnet also said that those guys somehow surrounded themselves with a pool of lava which makes it more like one and a half against two. So, Pearl and I were thinking that you could make a bubble large enough to protect us; that way we get to keep our legs and you know other stuff from burning off and save the day."

"Alright then," Steven returned his attention to Lapis and Peridot. "Promise me you guys will at least try this while I'm gone." They're gestures were less affirming than what he was hoping for but there wasn't enough time for anything more as he, Pearl, and Amethyst ran out of the barn towards the warp pad.

* * *

Despite Pearl's reluctance, Steven warped back to the barn after they bubbled the gems away. Though it felt like that mission was a touch and go errand, the pitch black surrounding Steven indicated it was well into the AM hours. He turned on his phone to navigate the way towards the front doors. The barn lights were also snuffed out. ' _They must have called it a night I guess._ '

Suddenly physical exhaustion flooded his body and Steven decided to just spend the night on the couch.

However, he found crumpled notebook pages scattered all over the cushions. ' _Great I probably made the whole thing worse.'_ He found the two original notebooks nested under the pile. ' _Let's see what's in store for tomorrow._ ' The exercise had started out civil with each of them writing three things to begin.

 **I hate your constant apathy. I hate your tendency to not share yourself. I hate it when you're hostile.**

 _I hate that you're always astonished by everything. I hate it when you try to improve things. I hate your need to always be right._

 **I hate your disbelief in self-determination. I hate that you prioritize everyone's faults and deceitfulness. I hate that you believe no one changes.**

 _I hate it when you voice your opinions without thinking about other people's feelings. I hate it when you don't acknowledge your own faults. I hate it when you try to cite useless qualities to support your superiority._

From there, Steven could tell from the progressively shorter lists, superficial items, and of course the torn pages that the exercise snowballed into who could come up with the most things. He unfolded some of the crumpled pages around him and tried to follow the discontinuous lines.

 **I hate that you can fly.**

 _I hate it when you ambulate around the barn aimlessly when you can't solve a problem._

 **I hate your nonsensical sleep schedule.**

 _I hate your taste in music._

 **I also hate your musical preferences.**

 _I hate the screeching scarecrow you made which unsurprisingly attracted more crows._

Steven was about to accept defeat and sleep in preparation for the fallout tomorrow when a torn page fell out of the back of Peridot's notebook. Unlike the other pages, this one had both Peridot and Lapis's handwriting.

 **I hate that I stranded you on Earth.** _I hate that I said that to you when it was really Homeworld's fault._ **I hate that we've written this many things for this dumb activity.** _I hate it when I agree with you._ **I hate making you unhappy so I'll give you some space and time.** _I hate that despite all this I still can't hate you._

 _'Told them it would work.'_ Before he could relish the results of his advice, Steven yielded to the tempting allure of sleep.

* * *

*Sorry for the long time gap on this one. Sometimes the chapter ideas I thought were initially great kind of fell apart. Also sorry for not making it clear but the bold text towards the end are Peridot's and the italics are Lapis's


End file.
